AI safety and alignment

Alignment, interpretability, red-teaming, bias and privacy: the research on what these systems do when they misbehave.

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arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 15

Neural Variability Enhances Artificial Network Robustness

arXiv:2606. 13801v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Neural responses in cortex exhibit substantial trial-to-trial variability in response to repeated stimuli, while peripheral sensory neurons respond far more consistently, leading many to wonder whether stochasticity may carry meaning.

By Robin Preble, Praveen Venkatesh, Stefan Mihalas, Kameron Decker Harris
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 15

Nonlinear Two-Time-Scale Stochastic Approximation: A Sharp Phase Transition and How to Beat It

arXiv:2606. 14488v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Recent finite-time analyses of nonlinear two-time-scale stochastic approximation show that under contractive assumptions the slow iterate $Y_k$ with stepsizes $\beta_k=\Theta(k^{-1})$ and $\alpha_k=\Theta(k^{-a})$, $a\in(1/2,1)$, generally satisfies a mean-square rate of order $k^{-a}$; decoupled $k^{-1}$ rates require strong local linearity.

By Dhruv Sarkar, Vaneet Aggarwal
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 15

LoMC: Localized Multidirectional Correction for Refusal Suppression in Routed Foundation Models

arXiv:2606. 13709v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: We study controlled post-training refusal suppression in routed MoE and hybrid-MoE foundation models, aiming to increase non-refusal target-response behavior while preserving general capability under a compact intervention footprint.

By Yan Hong, Kedong Xiu, Wei Li, Jun Lan, Huijia Zhu, Shuheng Zhou, Zhongcai Lyu, Weiqiang Wang, Jianfu Zhang
arXiv AI
Jun 15

Recovering Stranded Discrimination in Knowledge Tracing: Per-Item Bias Correction via Empirical-Bayes Shrinkage

arXiv:2606. 14123v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Deployed knowledge-tracing models are typically frozen after training, yet systematic per-item logit bias arises, from limited per-item expressivity in backbone architectures and from post-deployment shifts in item properties, degrading prediction quality.

By Xiaoran Yan, Cheng Tang, Atsushi Shimada